Moral victories were in short supply for the under-15-triple-a Cariboo Cougars against the top-ranked Okanagan Rockets.
A four-goal outburst in the third period preserved the weekend sweep for the Kelowna bunch skating to a 6-2 victory over the Cougars on Sunday in Kin 2.
After Lane Powell re-directed a point shot to even the score at 2-2, the Rockets found another gear and blasted into orbit in the final ten minutes.
Blake Andrews and Sebastian Potash scored twice each past Cariboo netminder Quinn Hooper to put the game out of reach.
Okanagan jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play courtesy of Andrews and Hunter Orrbrooke.
In the second, the Cougars trimmed the deficit in half thanks to Hudson Brough who drove to the net and got rewarded with an easy tap in.
The Rockets outshot Cariboo 49-23. Hooper made 43 saves in the loss.
On Saturday, Okanagan outlasted the Cougars by a 4-3 margin, also in Kin 2.
Nash Riddell opened the scoring at 12:24 of the first period to make it 1-0 Rockets.
In the second, Andrews and Cameron Youl found the back of the net for Okanagan while Desmond Croy lit the lamp for Cariboo.
Croy added his second of the contest at 11:48 of the third period from Evan Bragg and Max Pellegrino to make it 3-2.
Alex Achtemichuk evened the score seven minutes later finishing off a Pellegrino pass.
However, the Rockets replied 25 seconds later as Carter Hickson potted the game-winner.
Okanagan improves to a perfect 10-0-0-0 in the nine-team league while Cariboo sits third with a mark of 6-5-1-0.
The under-15 Cougars are back home Saturday (6:30pm) and Sunday (8am) in Kin 1 as they welcome the Greater Vancouver Canadians (4-5-1-0).
In under-18 action, Cariboo split a pair at the BC Elite Hockey League Showcase in the Lower Mainland.
On Saturday, the Cougars fell 5-4 in a shootout to the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
A slow start saw Cariboo spot the T-Birds a 3-1 edge after the first period.
Noah Cairignan, Ryan Evans and Riley Charlton found the back of the net past Brennen Purych while Sawyer Latkowski replied for Cariboo.
Wyatt Van Tongeren made it 4-1 Fraser Valley at 8:11 in the second period.
The Cougars woke up from their elongated cat nap a few minutes later as Prince George Cougars prospect Kadric Mujcin and Lukas Woods found the back of the net against Bentley Edgar, slashing the deficit to 4-3.
Gavin Parmar tied the game at 4-4 on the power-play from Mujcin and Tavon Peterson, sending the game to extra time.
Evans scored the lone shootout goal to seal the win for the T-Birds.
On Sunday, Cariboo rode the wave of seven third period goals to defeat the Vancouver Northwest Hawks 9-5.
Once again, the Cougars fell behind early as the Hawks came out like gangbusters building a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Ryder Fitzpatrick and James Koch (2).
For the second straight day, it would be Mujcin that would help spark Cariboo as he scored at 11:10 of the middle period and also set up Kooper Kozmeniuk for a 3-2 score after 40 minutes.
Cariboo was piping hot to start the third as Ty Maloney, Taryn Willis, Woods followed by a pair from Wyatt Callender and another from Mujcin capped off the offensive onslaught.
Liam Middleton and Cameron Zonailo replied for the Hawks.
Cariboo is tied for first place in the seven-team league with a record of 8-2-1-1. The Okanagan Rockets are 9-3.
The U18’s are in Vernon this weekend for the fourth annual Rink Hockey Academy Classic.
In addition, the U17 Cariboo Cougars went 1-2-1 at the Western Elite Tournament in Chilliwack.
They are off until November 7th and 8th as they battle against the Vancouver Island Royals in a neutral-site double header in Langley.
Cariboo is first in the nine-team league with a record of 8-2-2, two points up on the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs who have three games in hand.
Lastly, the under-18-female-triple-a Northern Capitals were on a bye last weekend.
The 3-5-0-0 Caps travel to Port Alberni this weekend to play the Vancouver Island Seals (3-8-1-1).
Puck drop on Saturday is at 2:30pm followed by a Sunday morning tilt at 7:30AM. Both games are at the Alberni Valley Multiplex.
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